WORLD'S TIMBER RESOURCES 229 



with which, the air moves over the surface 

 of the waters. None of these conditions are 

 changed by the extent or absence of forests. 

 All air currents blowing from the sea are year by 

 year charged with the same amount of moisture, 

 which precipitates as soon as the air is cooled 

 below the point of saturation. If such precipita- 

 tion be caused by forests, the air currents reach 

 the regions behind these forests drier and un- 

 able to yield a further supply of water.' But 

 as Mr. Ribbentrop well. points out, he does not 

 take into account re-evaporation of moisture 

 precipitated on the land, which, especially in 

 hot chmates, is very great from lakes and 

 streams as well as from the soil and from the 

 crowns of trees. 



" But, without founding any general deduction 

 on the recorded facts, we need not go beyond 

 Victoria to find noteworthy instances of the 

 difierence of rainfall in fairly open or treeless 

 districts and in thickly clad forest regions. The 

 greatest precipitation in this state is in the Beech 

 Forest, south of Colac, at an elevation of only 

 1,400 and 1,800 feet, the average annual fall' 

 being over 70 inches, while the maximum fall 

 registered is 89 inches.- But at the coastal 

 stations surrounding this forest the highest 

 records are only 42, 50-33 and 38-66 inches 

 respectively. 



